A DISGRACED priest who stole a dementia sufferer’s life savings to go on gambling sprees has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Peter Hesketh, 65, tricked widower Peter Court into giving him power of attorney and then fleeced him for £61,429. He blew some of the cash on horses and paying his mortgage.

Father-of-five Hesketh also used some of the stolen money to hire a venue for his daughter’s wedding.

The Roman Catholic clergyman, who worked as a salesman before becoming a priest, even officiated at his victim’s funeral in May 2007.

But grieving relatives soon discovered that 75-year-old former publican Mr Court’s bank accounts had been plundered, the court heard.

Hesketh met Mr Court at a nursing home where he was being treated. Once he had been granted power of attorney, Hesketh was in control of the purse strings and was convinced no one would notice the swindle.

Prosecutor Paul Mytton told the jury at Worcester Crown Court: “He squandered some of the cash on gambling. Betting documents from four bookmakers were found at his home by police.”

He squandered some of the cash on gambling. Betting documents from four bookmakers were found at his home by police.

Prosecutor Paul Mytton

Hesketh, ordained in 1992, tried to lie his way out of trouble and claimed Mr Court agreed to hand over the money for investments and to pay for him to sort out his business affairs.

But the jury found him guilty after an eight-day trial. Hesketh, of Bewdley, Worcestershire, had denied theft between January 2006 and May 2007.

Judge Toby Hooper QC, said Hesketh carried out a “planned and careful series of thefts” from a person who held him in “high regard”.

The judge added: “It is tragic to note you evidently held your victim in contempt, as is evidenced by your claim that you were ministering to him in religion during the offending and by derogatory remarks you made about him. But for your victim’s untimely death, your offending would have continued indefinitely.”

Neither Hesketh’s daughter Andrea, nor her husband, had any idea their wedding was partly paid for by cash from Mr Court’s account.

After the case, Detective Constable Phillipa Charlesworth, of West Mercia Police, said: “Hesketh was evasive and inconsistent during our dealings with him and it was clear he was not telling the truth.

“He should have been acting in Peter Court’s best interests. Instead he acted in his own. He has now paid a high price for that betrayal of trust.

“It has been a long and complex investigation and the seriousness of the offence has been reflected by the severity of the sentence. Mr Court’s family is pleased with the result.”

Monsignor Timothy Menezes, of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, said: “I am saddened to learn that the Reverend Mr Peter Hesketh, a married deacon of our diocese, has been found guilty of theft and a breach of the trust that was placed in him.”